


Rejected

by coplins



Series: Packrunners [23]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha/Omega, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly feels, Courting Rituals, Disabled Character, Gen, Mating Bond, Pack Dynamics, Pack Family, Pack Politics, barely any angst at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 14:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15051611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coplins/pseuds/coplins
Summary: Lucifer is throwing a pity party. Sadly for him, he's doing it in front of the two pack members with the least patience for that type of nonsense. Although, Raphael feels more sad for himself for having to put up with Luci's bullshit.





	Rejected

**Author's Note:**

> Beta read by my awesome Beta [YouCantKeepMeDown](http://archiveofourown.org/users/YouCantKeepMeDown). (And Grammarly.) Any remaining mistakes are my own.
> 
> Another smut free instalment in what was supposed to be a porn'verse. ^^ I certainly suck at thinking with my downstairs brain cells. ;)

Luci makes another wounded noise, looking miserable where he's slumping on the sofa. “I've ruined it! I'm not sure _how_ , but I ruined it.”

Raphael sits down beside his brother and refrains from putting his nose to Luci’s neck to start siphoning. He’s in a Rut which means Raff can smell him. He smells different than Raff remembers. Better. He swears there’s a hint of what he remembers as Dean in there but his stunted nose limits what he can discern. “What makes you say that? What happened?”

“I don’t _knoooow_ ,” Luci whines and slides down the sofa like he’s turned to goo, legs pooling on the floor and his back on the seat cushion. He blinks up at Raphael. “It was going so well. Then when I woke up this morning―”

“Morning?” Raphael cuts in dryly.

“Okay, fine. This _afternoon_. When I woke up he was gone and Azazel said he left in a hurry, reeking of distress. Not even a word of goodbye! So I fucked up. But for once I didn’t see it coming.”

“You must have done _something_.”

“No _ooo_. It was going great! He was flirting his ass off! Showing off, making me up my game. I even went across the street to get him food. I didn’t want to leave him for too long because there were another Primal making moon eyes at him. A huge, handsome guy. You know, the kind Mikey drools over?” Luci says. Raphael almost growls. Mikey has a thing for other Alphas. Raff doesn't mind it in general. All of them hook up with Alphas now and then―Mikey and Raff in particular―but Mikey has a tendency to come home marked up to high heavens. While Raff can't smell it, it upsets his brothers so he's learned to get upset too without knowing why he should be. They so often react instinctively to scent and they’re his compass to the correct responses so he does what they do so he won’t mess up. By now it’s a backbone reaction to him. Using others for guidance has proved less than fortunate in the past, though. “We almost got into a fight over him,” Luci goes on.

“Luci!” Raff reprimands sharply.

“He liked it! I swear he did! When I squared up against the guy Sam was fucking purring!”

Raphael considers the young man in question and thinks that, yes, Sam would like it. But Sam's also shown a tendency to be a bit anxious about appearing too Primal. His ideals clash with his nature. To the contrary of what Raff remembers of Sam's brother who’s Primal in every fiber. “Okay. I believe you. Then what happened?”

“Azazel broke up the fight before it could happen. A shame, because I’d love to show Sam how good of a fighter I am. Don’t get me wrong, sparring with Father is all good and well, but the war is over for us so it would have been nice to get to actually _use_ the fighting skills he insists we hone. Sam would have swooned.”

Raff takes a deep breath and closes his eyes for a beat, praying for patience from a god he doesn’t believe in. If only his brother could be as brilliant privately as he is while doing his job. But, no. He has to be a giant self-admiring drama queen. Mikey and Luci are the worst. At least Gabe tries to joke away his misery unless he has Mike and Luci sharing it. It must be a scent thing. “I’m sure he would have,” he answers diplomatically. 

“He would! He was so into me the whole bar smelled of his slick. He smelled so gorgeous, Raff. Even better than his brother! I didn't think that was possible. He smelled good enough to write poetry about.”

Raff groans. “Please don't. I remember your brief stint into poetry. The only thing good about it was your handwriting.”

Luci gasps in offense. “Hey! Show some empathy and support, I'm suffering over here!”

Raff pats him sarcastically on the head. “There, there.”

Luci glares at him for a beat then turns lax and melts off the couch completely with a pathetic whine, deciding not to get snippy about his crappy poetry when he can be miserable about something more important. “It was going so well, Raff. I’m telling you. He was flirting his ass off, it wasn’t just me.” Raff sits down beside him on the floor, back against the couch. Luci goes on. “Then Azazel offered me to knot Sam right there in the bar to show people how it’s done, and―” The rest of the sentence is muffled by Raphael’s hand while Raff gives him a no-you- _didn’t_ look. Luci removes the hand with an annoyed scowl. “Fuck you, Raff. He was in on it! And you don’t expect me to turn down an opportunity to show off, do you? With an O like that, I’ve got fucking bragging rights.” 

There are moments when Raff too feels like mimicking his brothers’ penchant for drama. This is one of them. “That doesn’t sound like something Sam would be into…” he says calmly instead of faceplanting into the couch.

“Not with you perhaps. But he too has bragging right with someone like me,” Lucifer says with an aloof smirk. It’s amazing how he manages to look like an arrogant prick even when lying boneless on the floor feeling sorry for himself.

“Really? How drunk did you have to get him to convince him of that?” Raff counters dryly.

Luci narrows his eyes at him. “We had a couple of drinks, so what? I know when someone is into it, Raff. Besides, he snapped at me twice when he wasn't satisfied with what I did. He knows how to show when he doesn't want it.”

Okay, _that_ Raff can believe. The Sam Raff has gotten to know is sweet and philosophical with a lot of ideas of how things are _supposed_ to be. But during sex, he likes it rough and is very likely to snap his jaws in a mock bite to show his displeasure, playfully or for real he made sure to get across if and how he wants it. He also knows the size of Luci’s knot has caused some Omegas to change their mind mid-play and that Luci’s very conscious of it, not wanting to cause harm.

Luci sighs and interlaces his fingers on his belly, looking up at the ceiling. “We got to stay in one of Azazel’s guest rooms afterwards. My Rut kicked in during the night and I waited until he awoke to get his permission before I knotted him again.” He throws a quick, perturbed side-eye at Raphael. “As you surmised, we weren’t exactly sober and I didn’t want to presume… Anyway, he said yes and seemed very content. The whole room smelled of happy Omega even when he was still asleep. Then, the next time I woke up he was gone. So I fucked up but I don't know how!”

“So why presume it was something you did wrong that drove him away?”

Their father’s voice makes Raff turn his head and Luci to scramble to a half-sitting position. Their father, Marlon, stands leaned with his shoulder against the doorpost, a cognac glass in one hand and his other hand casually in the pocket of his suit pants. Even today when he isn’t working he’s wearing his suit but forgoing the jacket. The waistcoat is neatly buttoned and the shirtsleeves rolled up to his elbows. The chain of his pocket watch catches the light and glitters golden, so does the fat watch on his wrist. He needs neither to tell time.

“It’s always my fault. Why else would he have run?” Luci whines.

“You can’t figure it out?” their father asks and takes a sip of his drink.

Luci shakes his head and for a beat Marlon looks disappointed, humming noncommittally in a way that tells both his sons that he knows the answer and thinks Luci should too. Luci sits up against the couch shoulders slumping looking at his lap. Raff picks up a small change in his scent that he doesn’t know what it means. A Rut or a Heat puts a loudspeaker to the scent of the person. For most people, it’s like the scent is shouted through a megaphone while for Raff it’s barely a whisper. Since it’s so rare for him to smell it at all he hasn’t learned to interpret what it means. He can guess, in this case, since nobody likes to make father disappointed.

Marlon’s face softens and he comes into the room with an elegant, straight-backed glide Raff always tries to mimic but never quite manages without looking uptight. His brown hair is greying at the temples and his eyes are ice blue―sometimes glacially cold, sometimes warm as the spring sky―currently not giving much away. Raff’s always admired father’s ability to be composed at all times, but he’d loved listening to uncle Aiden tell them about father as a youth. If Aiden was to be believed, Marlon had been a wilder Juvie than Gabe and Luci put together. 

Marlon sits down in the armchair opposite where the brothers are sitting on the floor. “So why haven’t you called him to ask why he ran?”

“He doesn’t have a phone,” Luci answers, focus fully on their father.

“Oh?” Marlon raises an eyebrow in surprise then looks at Raphael. “I thought you’d been dating him for two weeks?”

Luci’s head snaps towards Raff. “You have?”

Raphael nods.

“And you didn’t tell us???” 

“I told father.”

“And yet you didn’t provide him with a phone so you could easily reach him,” Marlon says while Luci scoffs indignantly at not having known. “Or did he decline the offer of one?”

“I didn't think he needed one,” Raff answers honestly.

Marlon's lips quirk in a small smile. “I suppose the fault is mine then. I've done a too good job hammering in that we're supposed to care for the Omega’s needs. I didn't think to point out that we need to see to our needs too by blocking other suitors access to the Omega in question without openly limiting their ability to choose. A cellphone is a great way to do that if they’re not at the same financial level as us. To them, it will seem like you're giving them freedom while in reality, you're tying them to you since your number will be their first. They're going to call you and seek more contact even when you can't meet up for one reason or another.”

Raff almost says 'like Gabe did’ but stops himself before the words are out. Luci still doesn't know Dean has Gabe's phone and it brings a lot of hilarity since Luci and Dean text each other often. Too much to spoil it with a reveal. He'd told father, of course. He tells father everything.

“I'd mess it up anyway,” Luci states, still not done with his self-pity party. “I'm not good at deep, meaningful conversations with Omegas.”

Marlon chuckles warmly. “The first time I called my Charles on the com-radio I didn't speak a single word. I just purred at him for 30 minutes. We’re animals, son. No matter how sophisticated we pretend to be, if our chosen partner is Primal enough to admit that to themselves, no words are necessary.”

“What did he do?” Luci asks, eyes bright and expression open. They all like to hear stories about their dad.

“According to your aunt Amara he sat there with a dumb smile for fifteen minutes before he started to purr himself, syncing with me. I know for a fact Amara lied since Charles’ smile was never dumb,” Marlon jokes with a half playful, half wistful smile.

Raff feels that strange longing for the dad he never really got to know, missing him in the way you can miss and long for places you’ve never visited and only read about in a book.

“Tell me, son, when did you decide you no longer want Dean Winchester to be part of our pack?” Marlon asks Luci and swirls the golden liquid in his tumbler, breaking the moment of nostalgia.

Luci blinks in confusion. “What? I still want that. I only said Sam smells better. It’s a subtle difference. What makes you think I don’t want Dean too?”

Marlon studies his son for a beat while sipping his drink. “Luci, Dean Winchester is a Main. Not just an Omega looking for a pack. He might be interested in all of you but it’s still far from a done deal. His brother travelled cross-country to be with him. That’s not familial love, that’s a testament to Dean’s leadership abilities. He might be a penniless country bumpkin like your dad was when we met, but that means nothing. He set the bar when he marched into our building and informed our staff he was working there now so they better get his paperwork done. He’s going places, with or without us.”

Luci and Raff share a look with pleased smirks on their lips. That’s the kind of Main they’re looking for.

“As a Main, he’ll be putting his pack first,” Marlon goes on, drawing their attention back to him. “He needs to be courted as such. Therefore, son, it was a very bad idea on your behalf to get mated to his little brother before he’s properly convinced we’re good enough for him. He might have taken offense.”

Both brothers’ eyes bug and they exclaim at the same time. 

“ _Mated_?!”  
“ _Mated_?! I’m not―! _Ouff!_ ” Raff tackles Luci to the ground cutting him off mid-sentence, only to pin him down so he can lick the secretion from his throat to siphon it. Luci sputters and shoves him off but by then Raff’s fully focused on interpreting the scent he picks up. It’s definitely different than last time Raff siphoned Luci. So much better. And the new note is Sam.

“So this is what a mating bond smells like?” Raff asks as Luci struggles to sit up while sniffing himself.

Marlon hums. “It’s barely settled. If it had set, your brother would have recognised it for what it was without me telling him. I’m not sure without siphoning him myself, but I think there’s a beginning of a pack bond as well. I’m not going to siphon to find out in case I’d end up confirming it before the older Winchester is ready to accept us.”

“Oh fuck. I’m mated. I’m fucking mated!” Luci stares wide-eyed at nothing for a moment, then he whines and flops down to lie on the floor again looking miserable. “My mate left me. My life is over!”

Marlon hides an amused smirk behind his tumbler before he leans forward to give Luci a reassuring smile. “It’s not that bad, son. He’ll be back. We’ll get those two to join us.”

“But I did everything right and he _still_ ran out on me!”

“Mmh,” Marlon agrees. “Don’t beat yourself up. No matter how well you court an Omega they still turn you down sometimes. I’ve had my fair share of rejections too.”

Raff and Luci speak in tandem again, Luci sitting straight up.

“You?”  
“You?”

The idea that any Omega would turn father down is absurd to Raphael. Marlon’s tall, broad-shouldered, has an aura that radiates power and strength, a pleasantly polite demeanour and a cunning mind. What father wants father is known to get.

Marlon chuckles at his sons’ stunned expressions. “Yes, me.”

“I thought you’d only courted dad?” Raphael asks.

“I’ve only been head over heels in love with my Charles, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t courted others.”

“And you’ve been turned down?” Luci wants confirmed with a sceptical scrunch to his nose.

“Yes.”

“By how many?”

Marlon looks at the glass in his hand, annoyance thinly veiled on his face. “One.”

Raphael breaks into laughter while Luci scowls at their father and protests, “That’s not a ‘fair share’!”

“It’s one too many,” Marlon counters with a frown of his own before his face smooths out. “Don’t worry about your boy, Luci. If you formed a mating bond in a single night there’s something there. Something strong. He’ll be back. Just don’t try to get between him and his Main. Get to fixing this mess. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some paperwork that needs attending,” he says and gets up.

When Marlon has left the room Raff is still giggling. Their father doesn’t like to be told no, that’s apparent when one single rejection is enough for him to be disgruntled about it. Raff wonders who she is and how long ago it happened. Knowing father, it could be decades. He takes a deep breath to calm his mirth and nudges Luci. “Hey… how are you holding up?”

Luci senses the shift in mood and sits up. “I’m alright, I suppose. I just wish he’d stuck around to talk to me.”

“You don’t feel a tug for him or something?” Mating bonds are a mystery to Raff. This is the first time he’s siphoned someone who has one he can discern.

Luci shakes his head, finally having dropped the overly dramatic act. “No… not really. I feel… I’m sad about him running out on me, and I was anxious as fuck about it. But mostly… I have butterflies in my belly when I think about him. I really liked him and I want to get to know him better.” An honest answer without all the macho bullshit Luci so often plays up, being a ‘red-eyed Alpha’ and all.

“It’s a bit funny, you know?”

“What is?”

“That you’d be the first of us to form a mating bond. I remember back in the old days when you kept loudly declaring that you were never getting mated.”

Luci looks at him and snorts in semi-sad amusement. “I guess that’s kinda funny.” He leans his head against Raff’s shoulder. “I always thought it would be Mikey who came home one day like, ‘Oops. Guess what?’ But lo and behold, it’s me. Back in the days, I couldn’t even imagine wanting to ever get mated. Then one day I realized I had this longing that sort of just had crept up on me...”

“I’ve told you, you could choose a woman to mate with. Just because I―”

“Hey, no. None of that now,” Luci interrupts him and takes his hand to interlace their fingers. Raff wonders how much of his guilt and anxiety about being a burden translates into his scent. It’s always sat heavy on his shoulders that his definite preferences hinder his brothers. But not even a female in Heat could rile him up the right way, even when he felt strong affection for her like he did for his friend Billie Reaper from college. “We know, Raff. But we want at least the first Omega we bring into the pack to be someone all of us can mate with. We’ve made that choice and we’ve never felt forced to choose to do so. You _know_ that,” Luci reassures softly. “Besides, even before I started to get the longing I had my eyes open. You know, sometimes you run into people and you go, ‘Wow. This guy or girl is mate material!’ And I always… um…” Lucifer coughs and looks at their interlaced hands. His voice turns very quiet. “They… intimidated me. Scared the fuck out of me. ...You know, like they could see beyond the facade what a fuckup I really am behind the bluster.” Raff gives his hand a reassuring squeeze. Luci hates admitting to any kind of weakness. “They’re the kind that takes one look at me and scoff, telling me to my face that I ain’t all that, and I pretend I’m not interested because their rejection sting more.”

“That’s when you tell us and we make a pack effort,” Raff tells him softly. “Like with the Winchesters.”

“I know, I _know_. But none of them has had a scent all of us got fucked on before.”

“How about personality?”

Luci makes a non-committal sound.

Raff knows he shouldn’t poke at it, but… “Have any of them been guys…?”

Luci’s lack of an answer is answer enough. Once again his scent tells Luci something he’d prefer not to have given away. “Don’t be disappointed, Raff. We were all young and he wasn’t a Packrunner anyway.”

Raff sighs. No need to dwell on past could-have-beens. “You’re right. Let’s focus on Sam. I suggest we’ll leave a parcel for him at Azazel’s, with a phone and our phone numbers. He’s bound to show up there sooner or later and hopefully, he can call and explain why he ran.”

“We should add a fruit basket too, if he gets hungry. And a pair of colourful knitted socks.”

Raphael’s lips twitch in bemused mirth. “Socks?”

“Yes. And perhaps a fun looking T-shirt too. I saw a purple one with a greyhound on that I like. You know, some weird looking useful shit that will put the same expression on his face as you’re wearing now, to make us memorable. And we should add two envelopes with handkerchiefs in ziplock bags, with each of our scents.”

“We should add something for Dean too, to placate him. Father said that was important.”

“Good idea. Let's throw in a bottle of expensive whiskey and a ridiculous card where I write 'sorry I accidentally mated your brother’ or something. Dazzle him with my fancy handwriting since my poetry is…” He side eyes Raff grumpily, “...misunderstood.”

Raphael chuckles. This is the side of Luci he likes best. Soft, slightly quirky, and practical. Of course, in a few hours when Mike comes home Luci will pull out the drama act all over. He’ll go ‘Woe be me,’ and Mike will go ‘No, no, no. Woe be _me_.’ Then they’ll enjoy at least one hour of self-indulgent misery before Mike decides that a brother in Rut can be coaxed into another type of self-indulgent activity.

But for now, it’s just the two of them scheming about what to do to lure Sam back without alienating the Main they hope to acquire. Raphael loves moments like this with his brother and despite what happened he only feels hopeful about the future...

* * *

**Author's Note:**

> As per usual, I really appreciate when you comment. <3


End file.
